The Labour MP welcomed the pledge and told IBTimes UK that he thought it was "really important news".

"The major, major reason why London is the mega city and powerhouse that it is in our country, is because of globalisation," Lammy said.

"Britain has a phenomenal power because of its past and because of those present in our country to reach into nearly every market and country in the world.

"Therefore, it's hugely important that, not just in political life, not just in key areas of our public sector, it's also important that in business and in industry we see the sort of diversity that is taken for granted in a city like New York or Los Angeles.

"It's worrying that we don't seem to have made the progress that you would expect in such a multi-cultural country that has the history and the context that we do."

IBTimes UK pressed the Mayor of London hopeful on what he plans to do in City Hall to promote ethnic diversity in business if he is elected in 2016.

Lammy said he was not going to pre-empt the results of the proposed review, but stressed that he plans to "look very closely" at the findings of the investigation.

"I want role models and I want those roles models in business and in industry, and I don't think they are there in sufficient quantity," he added.

However, the MP said that he has witnessed a generation of "young, ethnic entrepreneurs" spring up in the capital and a group of young ethnic minority students emerge out of the UK's "most preeminent and selective" universities.

The research, commissioned by the executive recruitment consultancy Green Park, found that, amongst 289 key executives in the FTSE100 who occupy the posts of chairman, chief executive and chief financial officer, just a dozen were women.

The report also revealed that more than half of FTSE100 companies have no non-white leaders at board level, whether executive or non-executive.